For the last day of campaigning before the German general elections, Angela Merkel called, Saturday, September 25, to vote in the name of "the future" of Germany for the conservative Armin Laschet, in her last meeting, on the eve of indecisive elections which will turn the page of his 16 years of reign.

"It is about your future, the future of your children and the future of their parents and it is only every four years that you have the opportunity to decide at the federal level who should shape that future. for you in Berlin, "said the Chancellor during a meeting in Aachen alongside the Christian Democrat candidate, slightly ahead in the polls by the Social Democrat Olaf Scholz.

For her final meeting as chancellor, Angela Merkel, who failed to prepare for her succession, spared no efforts to allow the unpopular and clumsy Christian Democratic candidate to catch up.

"You have to make the right decisions, that's what matters to you tomorrow, because it is your country and you decide on your future government" which will have to ensure "prosperity, security and peace", stressed the leader. "The world is changing very quickly and therefore Armin Laschet still has a lot of work to do as Federal Chancellor," she argued.

"The C (of CDU) does not mean that you have to be a Christian to vote for the CDU, but that it is a vision of humanity which does not mistrust people, which trusts people and who always respects people and their differences, ”explained the Chancellor.

"Armin Laschet has shown throughout his political life that he can achieve this, not only in theory but with passion and commitment," she said, describing a leader able to "build bridges between people "and accept their" differences ".

>> To read: Germany: all you need to know about the general elections

The 60-year-old former journalist "learned politics from scratch and he runs this state of North Rhine-Westphalia like a prosperous federal state", praised the head of the German government, which risks having to dispatch the current affairs in the coming months, during negotiations to form a new ruling coalition.

The chancellor, 67 years old - including more than 30 elected career - will then retire from political life, with popularity still at the zenith despite a mixed record.

The Social Democrats in the lead, Olaf Scholz wants to be the "renewal of Germany"

Since the polls turned around in the middle of the summer, the conservative candidate Armin Laschet has himself attacked, waving the specter of a turn to the left with Olaf Scholz, the very moderate leader of the Party. Social Democrat (SPD), Minister of Finance of Angela Merkel since 2018.

While the center-right has always won more than 30% of the vote in national elections and provided the country with five of the eight post-war chancellors, the conservatives are threatened with their worst electoral score.

In recent polls, the Social Democrats are leading with some 25% of the voting intentions, against 21 to 23% of the vote for the CDU / CSU.

But the gap narrowed in the home stretch before the poll and Angela Merkel on Friday appealed to undecided voters to give her party the advantage.

And prevent him from leaving the political scene with a bitter taste.

Armin Laschet's slide in the polls propelled 63-year-old Vice-Chancellor Olaf Scholz into an unexpected wild card.

He too tried on Saturday, during a final meeting in his constituency of Potsdam, to mobilize the hesitant by promising "change".

With his usual phlegm, which borders on boredom according to his detractors, he promised an increase in the minimum wage and winked in support at the many young people who demonstrated the day before for the climate and who, according to him, have the merit of "putting your finger on the wound".

His experience as a great financier also reassures German voters, who seem to be looking for the best heir to a chancellor who still enjoys popularity at the zenith.

This concern pushes each of the candidates to claim their proximity to Angela Merkel and augurs well for the continuation of a centrist and pro-European course after the departure of the Chancellor.

Olaf Scholz, however, claimed on Friday that he was the face of "renewal for Germany", insisting that the country "needs a change".

With AFP

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